Heart part 1

Chapter 18 - To Where our Winds Blow Us

Running down the hall, Heart spotted another door a short distance away. Taking their chances, they ran through and found themselves in a small back alley behind the shop. Without stopping, they continued down the alley, sticking to the shadows as they went. As they drew further away, from the shop, they could hear a large commotion break out.

" Dammit! Was this that old man's plan? To cause this big commotion?" Heart thought, sprinting away as fast as they could.

While they were running, suddenly, they could feel themselves start to become lightheaded. Glancing at the floor, they proceeded to spot a trail of blood following their steps. Immediately, they knew where it was coming from.

" These wounds...dammit." Stopping for a moment, they took off their blouse and began to tear it up into many long, individual pieces of fabric. With these pieces of their blouse, they wrapped them tightly around their wounds, making sure to leave the knives in for now since taking them out would just worsen the bleeding.

" I'll have to have Juzo treat them later." Heart thought, continuing down the alleyway.

***

Esther, Jaqueline, Sandy, and Juzo all stood there, completely petrified by what they just heard.

" Is everything all right? You four look like you've just seen a ghost." The guard asked them. Suspicion filled his eyes.

Another moment had passed by before any one of them had snapped out of it and answered.

" We uh...we've never seen a girl like that before in our lives," Esther answered. The others reluctantly nodded their heads along with her statement.

The guard standing in front proceeded to shoot the other a skeptical glance, but regardless, he began to roll up the wanted poster and stuffed it back into his satchel.

" Apologies for taking up your time then. Well, if any of you do happen upon any information, any at all, don't be afraid to report it. It'll be much appreciated." And with one nod, the two guards turned around and began to head to the front door.

As soon as the four had seen the guards start to leave, without trying to draw too much attention, they turned around and began to head up the stairs as fast as they could.

When they reached the top and were finally out of the guards' line of sight, hurriedly, they sprinted towards the nearest room, which was Esther and Jaqueline's, and piled inside. After they had all gotten in and shut the door behind them, it didn't take long before chaos erupted.

" D...did you guys hear what that guard said?!" Jaqueline exclaimed to the others as soon as she shut the door.

" O-of course! Just what the hell was he going on about!? Heart wanted for murder?!" Sandy billowed back in response.

" Something is definitely going on here! I mean, there's no way Heart would murder someone! Not in a million years!" Esther added, but as soon as the words had left her mouth, Sandy's face fell and she went into deep thought.

" Sandy, are you alright?" Jaqueline asked.

With her face suddenly turning grim, Sandy turned back towards the others. " I mean...can we really say that for certain?"

When the thought left her lips, both Esther's and Jaqueline's faces went dark.

" Just what are you suggesting?" Esther asked, her face and voice starting to ever so slightly bubble up with anger.

" I'm not suggesting she did anything and I'm not saying I believe what they said! But out of all of the kids I've met, to say she's 'odd' would be putting it nicely. Throughout this entire journey, she's been standoffish and cold, and you can't deny that she acts weird sometimes. I don't know how else to explain it, but she gives off this strange aura as well. It's unlike anything I've ever felt. It's not necessarily menacing, but it's not nice either. And I think we all know just how 'heartless' she can be. The point I'm trying to make is, while I don't want to believe that she would do something like that without good reason, the fact is...she might." Sandy said without an ounce of cheer on her face.